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SUMMARY:Book Launch: "On Architecture and the Greenfield" / RIOT
DTSTART:20241203T183000
DTEND:20241203T200000
DTSTAMP:20260919T031014Z
UID:255e91aa09230183dd54825501eefe312bec6e0fbd1aec29a2d87451
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Merve Bedir\, Dorothee Hahn\, Summer Islam\, Kathlyn Kao & Cha
 rlotte Malterre-Barthes   \nArchitecture and the Greenfield\nOn the Poli
 tical Economy of Space\n\n“Architecture and the Greenfield” is the sec
 ond volume after “Architecture and Greenwashing” (2023) in a series ed
 ited by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes at the Swiss Federal Institute of Techn
 ology—EPFL. The collection of essays presents a cross-section of positio
 ns on architecture and its political economies from different perspectives
 . In this volume\, Ana Maria Leon and Andrew Herscher\, Paulo Tavares\, Mi
 lica Topalovic and Swarnabh Ghosh articulate stances forming broad theoret
 ical frameworks around urbanization and agriculture—the so-called ‘gre
 enfield.’  \nAffordable forms of residential urbanization raise a para
 doxical question: On the one hand\, cheap housing settlements across the w
 orld devour thousands of hectares of arable fields at the periphery of gro
 wing cities. On the other hand\, housing is a human need (and right). Thi
 s publication investigates the spatial characteristics of housing developm
 ent on agrarian land and the mode of production at work in transforming fe
 rtile\, cultivated plots into urbanized settlements. Often discussed and e
 ven more so recently in architecture and planning (i.e.\, “Countryside\,
  The Future\,” Guggenheim Museum\, OMA\, 2020\; “Taking the Country's 
 Side: Agriculture and Architecture\,” Sebastien Marot\, 2019)\, the urba
 nization of agrarian land is but a complex matter transversally studied (i
 .e. political science\, urban\, rural and development studies\, agrarian s
 tudies\, soil and crop science\, or ecology and environmental sciences). F
 rom Neil Brenner’s planetary urbanization to Donna Haraway and Anne Tsin
 g’s Plantationocene\, scholars have articulated the contradictions of ou
 r age\, the exploitative weight of agriculture—both historical and conte
 mporary—and the political problems of our growing human footprint- both 
 for residential use and food production.2 The ambition is to candidly inv
 estigate beyond the obvious. For instance\, while agrarian practices may b
 e understood as a necessary human activity endangered by urbanization\, ag
 riculture and food production also inherently carry on an imposing project
 \, aiming to subdue and control space\, capital\, resources\, and populati
 ons (i.e.\, the deforestation of the Amazon for cattle pasture as a coloni
 al alibi). Similarly\, agriculture-driven development belongs to ideologie
 s of ‘civilizing’ and to many contemporary settler projects (i.e.\, th
 e Occupied Territories) that necessitate an examination of both the comple
 x combination of forces fostering it and their physical expressions. Dwel
 ling into these perspectives\, contributions by Ana María León& Andrew
  Herscher\, Swarnabh Ghosh\, Paulo Tavares\, and Milica Topalovic help mak
 e sense of these questions. What mechanisms of oppression are revealed by 
 both agriculture practices and urbanization? As we face the climate emerge
 ncy\, is it sustainable to keep chipping at our foodsheds\, and what are t
 he alternatives? Which legal instruments and narratives are behind politic
 al economies of land tenure?  How much does global urbanization threatens
  food sustenance? From colonial tenure laws to land reforms and agricultur
 e policies\, from forest to fields to massive real-estate developments\, w
 hat does the study of the global urbanization of agrarian land\, and the 
 architecture and urban form it generates teach us about the re-organizatio
 n of territory and complex issues of regimes of land ownership\, land use 
 policies\, and property laws? This volume speaks to how the accumulation a
 nd transfer of land as capital materialises in the competition for land b
 etween housing and cultivation\, with architecture central to this phenom
 enon.\n\nTexts by: Swarnabh Ghosh\, Ana María León\, Andrew Herscher\, P
 aulo Tavares\, Milica Topalović\nYear of publication: 2024\n\nEditor: Cha
 rlotte Malterre-Barthes\nManaging Editor: Kathlyn Kao\nProject Management:
  Dorothee Hahn\nGraphic Design: Fernanda Tellez Velasco\nCopyediting: Ire
 ne Schaudies\nProduction: Alise Ausmane\nPublisher: Hatje Cantz\n 
LOCATION:Foyer SG
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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